The concept of auxiliary processing and auxiliary mechanisms that provide some auxiliary computing functionality to a main (host) computer system are generally described in a number of U.S. patent applications assigned to the assignee of the present invention, including Ser. Nos. 10/429,930 and 10/429,932. In general, many of these auxiliary computing concepts are embodied in various types of auxiliary displays. Auxiliary displays can show data of a host personal computer, even when the host computer system (e.g., a personal computer) is off or in some other reduced-power state.
One standard design for an auxiliary display in a laptop computer is to have it embedded in the lid, with its own dedicated set of actuators for navigating the auxiliary display user interface. While this provides value, with such a design the auxiliary display is only visible when the laptop lid is closed, negating any value it could otherwise provide when the host computer system is running and the lid is open with the host display screen visible.